Three of the fourth quarter’s biggest DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases featured a bonus that can’t be found on the discs, but only on the packaging. And the company behind it is hoping they won’t be the last in home entertainment to try it.

All owners of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen need is a Web cam. Visit a Web site tied into the specific release (such as www.weareautobots.com for Transformers), slide your box art in front of the webcam and watch as you activate an interactive 3D image of Optimus Prime. For Star Trek, users take a self-guided tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and for Battle of the Smithsonian, Rex the Dinosaur, a giant squid and Amelia Earhart’s plane pop off the box, right in front of the consumer.

“It was just a really interesting idea in terms of home entertainment,” said Bruno Uzzan, CEO and co-founder of Total Immersion, the company behind the software, dubbed “augmented reality.” “Our goal is hyper-realism, giving consumers something more and something new that they haven’t seen before.”

Augmented reality works by the webcam and Web site recognizing the specific cover art and popping up a 3D image that consumers can move around on-screen in real time. While all three earned high praise from both the studio partners, Paramount and Fox, Uzzan said he was partial to the Transformers experience, since “it really connected with consumers.” more